From Decaying Hulk to Historic Park

A SHORT PICTORAL ESSAY ON THE
(RE)CREATION OF MARTIN'S TAVERN

In 2005, the Friends of Martin’s Tavern (or FOMT), a citizen-formed non profit organization, initiated the demolition of the massive and abandoned three story apartment building that had come to dominate the sightlines of the center of Marshallton, an historic village a few miles west of West Chester, the county seat of Chester County, PA.

Originally FOMT has a desire to strip away the several additions to the original tavern structure and restore the building back to the size of the original tavern which had been constructed in the mid 1700s and was in use during the time of the American Revolution.
Under the trained eye of renowned architect, John Milner and a skilled and careful demolition team, the work began in earnest, starting right at the top.

Soon, the towering building began to shrink and the details of the original structure began to emerge.

X’s marked the spots where non-original and/or unstable structures were slated for demolition and removal. Eventually it became evident to the members of FOMT that the dream of seeing a completely restored building on the site was unattainable. Too many years had passed with too little maintenance and too many modifications to the original structure with non-period materials had been performed. Reluctantly the group realigned their goals to save the footprint of the original structure and create a micro-park on the site for for all to enjoy.

The end of the demolition phase left a nearly complete footprint built with original materials. Several important features such as the main fireplace in the lower floor food preparation area in the west side of the tavern and the dining area on the east side of the tavern with its smaller fireplaces were able to be restored enough to give visitors the sense of what it must have been like to visit back in the day. The imposing front wall and doorway that now greet travelers arriving from the south on Northbrook road was also just beginning its new life at this point.

Enter the masons… Working with wobbly towers of original colonial stone, skilled masons carefully re-pointed the surviving structure of the tavern, filling the spaces between the stones with durable mortar and leaving us with the beautifully restored stone edifices we see today from anywhere in the center of Marshallton.

Today the restored footprint of Martin’s Tavern and the green, manicured micro-park that surrounds it stands as a testimonial to the power of citizen action to make their communities better places to live. This picture shows the tavern festooned for the holidays in the winter of 2005.

Since the restoration, several neglected properties within site of the tavern have seen restorative work and the village grows more beautiful every year. While no one can claim that the restoration of the tavern by itself has sparked a renaissance of pride in Marshallton, it can be said that when a small village cares for its most neglected properties in this way, it can’t help but be an inspiration to those who own other historic structures in the village.